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About The Guide

Hello! We are Sonja and Ivan. And this is our Bookstore Guide - an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe. We hope this Guide will help you find the book(stores) you are looking for.

Cristina: "Located on a quiet pedestrianised street close to the Cathedral, the Librairie de Mousterlin (no name on the front, but an unmissable yellow façade) specializes in second-hand books. The choice of foreign works, mainly in English, is good (in fact, it’s probably the best for miles and miles around), although one has to admit that the search would be more rewarding if the books themselves were stacked in any kind of order, alphabetical or otherwise (to be fair, this comment applies to the whole bookshop, and not just to the foreign section). Another problem is that the man minding the shop likes listening to music CDs – not that one would mind in the normal run of things, but on the day I was there the tunes selected were both loud and, to my taste, horribly cacophonic, so that after a while I decided to cut my visit short. A pity, as those two overflowing shelves of English-language books looked quite promising."

Brittany or La Bretagne became a part of France in 1532 but this northern region of the country maintains a very distinct atmosphere and culture even five centuries later. Although it is politically and administratively one of the French departments, it remains very much autonomous in the minds of its inhabitants, who pride themselves in their Celtic heritage. This position is most strongly manifested in the unique culture and customs of the region, and especially in the conservation of the Breton language. Quimper is the widely viewed as the cultural center of Brittany with several museums and an annual festival of Breton culture. La Librairie de Mousterlin is located near Quimper's most famous sight, the Gothic cathedral bearing the name of Saint‑Corentin and dating back to the 12th century.

The owners of La Librairie de Mousterlin specialize in second-hand and discounted books, but also CDs and DVDs. The stock is quite diverse and according to the bookstore's website, some 50 new articles are added to it on monthly basis. The English language section is not an exquisite one but those several shelves of English books are much more precious in Quimper as the city doesn't have an English-only bookstore. And as for the music mentioned by Cristina in her recommendation, let us know if you have the same or a different experience whether in La Librairie de Mousterlin or in bookstores in general.